Peripheral canopy parachutes e.g. annular ring canopy parachutes have been used for low altitude deployment with a low rate of descent. It has been found desirable to drop military personnel and military equipment from the lowest possible altitude and at the maximum horizontal velocity in order to reduce exposure to enemy fire. The increased loads which today's troops must carry with them when they jump requires that any new parachute must provide a high drag coefficient so as to land the paratrooper at a safe velocity. These parachutes open fast and have high drag coefficients and are relatively small and lightweight. A later approach adds a cap over the annular ring canopy to seek to improve performance. Increasingly there is a demand to drop ever larger payloads for beyond mere personnel and personal equipment e.g. 40,000 lbs pay loads. Even using a number of parachutes to drop a 40,000 lb load, for example five parachutes each carry 8,000 lbs of the load, each parachute would be in the neighborhood of 120 feet in width, making for a large, heavy, expensive and unwieldy device.